Weyfest Wibberlings!

We’ve had a few weeks break relaxing on the Norfolk Broads and playing tennis in the sun. Now it’s time to get back to work as we have a busy 6 weeks ahead of us.

As many of you know, we are at Ripley Farmer’s Market again this Saturday. We love being at the market and we missed last month because we wanted to support Send Primary School with their school fair. Two months feel like such a long time since we were last in Ripley. It’s a great little market. We turn up at 7.30 on a Saturday morning. There are quite a few volunteers already there and they are the reason that the market runs so well. We are greeted at the gate, usually with a twinkly smile as I am dressed up in my vintage outfits and the caravan is easy to spot. Once they find us on their list, we are directed to our normal spot at the other end of the field.

As we trundle across the grass, we have to weave our way through the vans as traders unpack ready for the 9am opening. Anyone from the outside listening in would smile to themselves if they heard the early morning conversations. There are a lot of greetings bandied across the site. After a few months as a trader, you are accepted into the family and when you go to the farmer’s markets, you tend to meet a lot of the same stallholders and make some good friends. Even though we are under time pressure when we arrive, we can’t help making some time to chat to our friends. There is a great sense of camaraderie, and everyone helps each other out. It takes us a while to unpack and set up the teashop but once we have, we can relax and have a nice cup of tea. We have lots of regular customers and we really look forward to seeing them.

Once we have finished at Ripley, we will need to plan for our weekend at Weyfest Music Festival. We are both excited and nervous about it this year because we have been given a space in the main arena where Jo usually has the Big Mug set up. We have been in close contact with Jo to make sure that we keep the usual customers happy. Jo has been great, lending us equipment, mugs and giving some much needed advice. Last year was our first year at Weyfest and we loved our little area at the Old Kiln Stage. However, the main arena is such a cool place to be. We will be serving our usual afternoon teas to the sounds of rock and pop music plus we are venturing into toasties and breakfast muffins. If you’re lucky enough to be coming along, you’ll find us dancing around with scones. So from Saturday, we will need to think about our shopping list and make a list of everything we’ll need to set up our mobile kitchen. Unlike a permanent teashop, we need to think about every detail and plan it so that everything runs smoothly. In the middle of the night, I keep waking up and adding to my list. Have you ever had dreams about scones and cake slices? Terrifying!

Then, once Weyfest is over for another year, we need to prep for Goodwood Revival. We are in campsite H supplying afternoon teas to anyone who fancies a break from the busy event. We love that we have been given a foot in the door and it’s taken us a while to find our lovely contact who has been so welcoming. When you run a business on your own, you have to find the time to network and keep talking to people. Surprisingly, I managed to get through to the Goodwood organisers via my friend who teaches drums. What a strange world we live in. Anyway, more about Goodwood in my next blog. In the meantime, wish us luck with taking afternoon tea bookings at Weyfest. Bookings are looking good so far and some people are coming back because they had scones with us last year and loved them. Oo, the pressure as the great Freddie Mercury would say. See you all on the other side. Xx